Healing is what happens when Pastoral Practitioners minister, enabling people to receive restoration to health of body and mind through God's great love and mercy. This restoration of health is part of what is meant by the "abundant life" which the Lord promised.

Health Tips

On September 16th, you can take part in International Eat an Apple Day by enjoying a piece of this delicious fruit. But don’t stop there and make it a one-day celebration. There are approximately 7,500 varieties of apples grown today, and they offer a great range of flavor from tart to tangy to sweet. However, the one thing they all have in common is major health benefits, making them not only tasty but a nutritious part of your diet all the time.

Herbs and medicinal plants have been a part of folk medicine and culture for centuries. In our age of science and technology, it can be fascinating when old traditions can be proved valid through research. This is certainly the case with this natural healthy ingredient, nopal. You may know this ingredient as prickly pear cactus or nopales. Found naturally in the southwestern desert regions of the United States and Mexico, nopal has been used not only as a medicinal plant, but is also a staple in the Latin American diet.

Today’s blog republished from my friends at TheAlternativeDaily is going to explain the potential benefits of a rather unusual daily drink tonic… As you might know from this newsletter previously, real sea salt (not processed refined salt) is actually very good for you in moderate quantities and has many health benefits, including supplying your body with dozens of trace minerals. Science has also proven that moderate levels of sea salt is actually GOOD for your heart health and does not negatively affect blood pressure like was previously believed years ago.

While both cottage cheese and flaxseed are both very nutritional on their own, the combination of the two are believed by some to contain extremely powerful healing properties. Some specialists, like the German bio-chemist Johanna Budwig, believe it can even cure cancer. Now to be clear, the data that stems from this claim is straight out of the 1950’s, as is the Budwig diet itself. Today, the Budwig diet is not recommended as a treatment for cancer. However, the combination of cottage cheese and flaxseed may still prove worthy for cancer patients as well as all of us.

Cancer, second only to heart disease as a cause of death in the United States, claims over 591,000 lives per year. Now, a groundbreaking study conducted at Stony Brook University in New York shows that 90 percent of all cancers – many more than had been previously thought – may be caused by environmental and lifestyle factors, such as smoking, drinking and diet.
The findings, which suggest that cancer is more preventable than previously believed, inject a note of hope into the battle against this devastating disease.

Chocolate is one of those dreamy foods that almost everyone loves. It is the favorite of children, as well as adults. People of all walks of life tend to enjoy a good square of delicious chocolate. And it’s popular all over the globe. Chocolate isn’t a simple food. There are entire books, websites, documentaries and podcasts devoted to chocolate and its delectable intricacies. Though we could fill our own book of interesting facts about chocolate, we’ve chosen just ten facts that we thought were the most fascinating to share with you. Enjoy!

Alternating contour strips of soybeans and corn on a farm in southern Wisconsin.

Soybeans planted between two corn fields in Wisconsin.

Stop Subsidizing the Wrong Food Crops

by Dr. Mercola

As farming has transitioned from a once localized industry to an international one, it’s brought with it a new set of challenges for U.S. farmers. Spurred in part by a growing demand for biofuel, along with federal subsidy programs, about 180 million additional acres of corn and soybeans have been planted around the world over the last decade.

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits on the planet. They come in their own yellow package, making them easy to take with you on the go. They offer loads of nutrients and contain carbohydrates, which are some of the reasons they’re so popular among athletes, but in order to get to their carb state, they must ripen. Once they do that, you may wonder how many carbs in a banana are there.

What would you think about eating a mushroom that looks a little like the scruff of a lion? Not totally convinced about lion’s mane mushroom? What if I told you that it’s associated with major brain repair, potential cancer-fighting power and is undergoing research on dozens of other health benefits?

Lion’s mane mushroom is a nootropic food very popular in traditional Chinese medicine. A large body of research has focused around this brain-boosting mushroom in the last few years, and the results are nothing short of astounding.